Bungieing out of MS

I am wondering why no one else seems to be wondering about what I am wondering about.

In this case, it has to do with what I think of as the Microsoft Stock Stool problem. MS currently has three legs to its revenue stool: the OS, servers, and apps. It has seemed to me for several years now that the company will not leave Rodney Dangerfield country as far as Wall St. is concerned until it proves that it can produce at least one more leg to the stool, after maybe a decade of trying.

There are a few candidates, but by far I would think the Xbox is the chosen one, and not the hardware loss leader, but the software, which is intended to make the whole operation profitable, or insanely profitable.

With HALO three just out, then, the word (on the Seattle P-I blog) that publisher Bungie is leaving the company that bought it seems to have caused a remarkable lack of consternation.

HALO is the best-selling game on Xbox. Without knowing the details, assuming the departure is true, one can assume that MS gets use of the H3 engine, various kits and add-ons, etc., but it isn’t yet clear that the words HALO IV are anywhere involved.

When your rescue rocket hits the side of a transgalactic transport, what do you do?

Make nice with Valve Software, I reckon.